Chapter 3

A young man was frowning, as if something had just occurred to him, and was about to speak, when the nurse beside him cut in first:

"Dr. Walker, shouldn't we clear Grant's mouth and nose first? There's blood blocking them, I think he's having trouble breathing."

I looked the nurse over a few times, the one with the head of dyed-blond hair. She didn't look familiar.

Ours was a top-tier state hospital, well known across the state, with strict standards. How could there ever be a nurse walking around with dyed hair?

I knew every nurse in the dermatology department. They were all older women with plenty of experience.

The hospital had trained us for situations like this. The first thing you did was notify the emergency department.

Before I could think further, Grant broke into a violent fit of coughing.

Flecks of blood sprayed from his mouth and nose.

I wasn't the right kind of specialist, but even I knew backflowing blood could choke a person. You had to turn the patient onto his side, ideally tap his back gently to keep the blood moving.

"Dr. Walker? Grant's about to choke. Hurry, do something."

The nurse pressed me again.

Spencer Chavez sat slumped on the floor wailing, while the surrounding patients and their families hurled blame at me for all they were worth. The scene had spiraled into total chaos.

Just as I couldn't hold back and was about to step in myself, the danmaku appeared again:

【Grant's blood vessels have already ruptured. Never mind you, not even a miracle could save him now.】

【Every single word you say right now is evidence Spencer Chavez will use to claim damages against you!】

I froze mid-motion and even took a few steps back, then looked at the nurse:

"I won't touch him. But I won't stop you either. The hospital nurses go through training and testing every month, so you should be more skilled at this than I am."

For an instant the corridor went silent again, with only Grant's coughing left, ticking down like a countdown to death.

Spencer Chavez stopped wailing and roared at me:

"Walker! Do you have any humanity left in you? Will you only be satisfied once you've watched my father die right in front of you?!"

"What did my family ever do to you, that you'd want to wipe us all out like this!"

I said coldly:

"Spencer Chavez, if I were you, I'd go find an emergency doctor right now instead of howling here like a ghost."

Spencer Chavez ground his teeth and came at me, grabbing hold of me to drag me over in front of Grant:

"I don't care! You're saving him today!"

"If my father dies, you're the murderer! You'll pay for his life!"

I clung with all my strength to the safety rail on the corridor wall, but Spencer Chavez was frighteningly strong, and he hauled my whole body clean off the ground.

"Don't you dare frame me. Everyone saw it. I never once touched Grant from start to finish."

"You hid his condition, he collapsed in the hospital, and instead of getting an emergency doctor you forced a dermatologist to try and save him. You're the one who wasted the critical window. If your father dies, that's on you!"

I shouted it straight at the surveillance camera in the corridor.

The moment they heard it, the crowd flew into a frenzy again.

Someone came over and started prying my fingers loose:

"Listen to that, is that something a doctor should say? Selfish like this, you don't deserve to be a doctor!"

"Let go and go save him! We're all your witnesses, we'll testify for you!"

Someone else aimed a phone at me:

"We all saw it, you deliberately stalled and refused to treat him, and that's what killed Grant!"

These people had me over the fire, forcing me toward the edge of the pit. They wanted me dead.

My heart went cold all the way through. I screamed:

"He isn't even dead yet! And you're already pinning this on me. Are you people even human?!"

But my screaming didn't stop them. It only brought more of them surging in to grab me.

They snapped my fingers, and my whole body was flung onto Grant like a torn sack.

Beneath me, Grant felt as soft as cotton.

【Puh……】

Grant coughed up another big mouthful of blood. Warm, it splashed across my neck and ran down inside my white coat.

Not stopping to care about the blood, I scrambled off Grant and shrank away to one side.

At that moment the on-call doctors from the emergency and cardiology departments finally arrived.

Spencer Chavez threw himself down in front of Grant, kneeling and crying out:

"Dad!! Wake up, the doctor's here to save you!"

The emergency doctor crouched in front of Grant, felt his neck, listened with a stethoscope, then said with a grim look:

"The patient is already dead."

Spencer Chavez went blank, then looked at me:

"You bitch! You killed my father, and I'm going to sue you! I'll make you pay with your life!"

I spoke up at once:

"I did not! I never touched Grant from start to finish. How can you say I killed your father?"

But Spencer Chavez only sneered:

"You crushed my father to death just now, and there are this many people here who saw it. You still want to deny it?!"

And the very people who had just helped Spencer Chavez rough me up now spoke as one:

"That's right! We all saw it. She's the one who crushed Grant to death."

"This doctor is morally rotten. She should be dragged off to prison!"